Patolli

Patolli (Nahuatl: [paˈtoːlːi]) or patole (Spanish: [paˈtole]) is one of the oldest known games in America. It was a game of strategy and luck played by commoners and nobles alike. It was reported by the conquistadors that Moctezuma Xocoyotzin often enjoyed watching his nobles play the game at court.

Patolli as depicted in Bernardino de Sahagún's General History of the Things of New Spain. Skilled players had their own game mats and their own playing pieces that they brought in tied cloth bundles.[1]
Patolli game being watched by Macuilxochitl as depicted on page 048 of the Codex Magliabechiano.[2][3]

History

Patolli and its variants were played by a wide range of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures and were known all over Mesoamerica: it was played by the Teotihuacanos (the builders of Teotihuacan, ca. 200 BC - 650 AD), the Toltecs (ca. 750 - 1000), the inhabitants of Chichen Itza (founded by refugee Toltec nobles, ca. 1100 - 1300), the Aztecs (who claimed Toltec descent, 1168 - 1521) and all of the people they conquered (practically all of Mesoamerica, including the Zapotecs and the Mixtecs). The ancient Mayans also played a version of patolli. Anthropologists Edward Burnett Tylor (1896)[4] and E. Adamson Hoebel (1966)[5] believed the Aztec patolli derives from the East Indian game of pachisi, but R.B. Lewis of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Illinois (1988) contends that the two games were independently developed and that the similarity between them is merely due to the limitations of a board game.[6]

Players

Patolli is a race/war game with a heavy focus on gambling. Players would meet and inspect the items each other had available to gamble. They would bet blankets, maguey plants, precious stones, gold adornments, food or, in extreme cases, their homes, family or freedom. Agreeing to play against someone was not done casually, as the winner of the game would ultimately win all of the opponent's store of offerings.

Each player must have the same number of items to bet at the beginning of the game. The typical number of items to bet is six, because each player has six markers (each time a marker successfully completes a circuit around the board, the opponent is required to hand over one of their items); although any number would be acceptable as long as each player agreed.

Once an agreement is made to play, the players prepare themselves by invoking the god of games, Macuilxochitl.

Game pieces
Patolli board and pieces

Five (or sometimes six) black beans are used as dice.[2] Each bean has one side marked with a hole; thus, tossing the black beans will result in some showing this white mark and others showing a blank side. Dice could also be used;[1] the rules in this article pertain to using five beans.

The game pieces are six red and six blue pebbles;[2] each player controlled one color as their set of game markers. Beans, kernels of maize or even pieces of jade could also be used.

The game board has 52 squares arranged in an "X" shape.[2] The game board was traditionally painted with liquid rubber on a sheet of leather or a straw mat and decorated with colored dye, or carved into the floor or a tabletop.

Gameplay

The object of patolli is to move six game pieces to the end of a board composed of specially-marked squares.[2] In order to complete a round, a player must get all six of their game markers from their starting queue to the ending square on the game board before the other player. The ultimate goal of the game is for a player to win all of the opponent's treasure; to do this, the players may need to play more than one round of the game.

Movement

The players take turns tossing the beans onto the game area. In order for a player to get one of their markers on the game board, one bean would have to land with its hole face up and all the others face down (getting a score of one). Once a player has done so, the player places one of their game markers from their starting queue onto the starting square of the game board.

If a player already has a marker on the game board, they can move it forward (clockwise around the "X" shape) the same number of spaces as there are holes showing from the toss. A toss showing five holes, however, allows the player to move their marker ten spaces forward. A player cannot move a marker onto a space that already has a marker (belonging to either player) on it. If the player cannot move any of their markers because they would overshoot the ending square or land on a spot occupied by another marker, they lose their turn.

Special areas

There are several specially-marked areas on the game board:

  • The four squares in the middle of the "X": Landing on an opponent's marker in this area is allowed, and if a player does so, the opponent's marker is removed from the game board and put back into the opponent's starting queue. The opponent is then required to give up one of their treasures to the landing player.
  • The two dark triangular spaces near the end of each arm of the "X": A player who lands on one of these triangular spaces must give up one of their treasures to the opponent.
  • The two squares at the end of each arm of the "X": A player who lands on one of these squares takes another turn.

Ending the round

If a player's marker reaches the ending square by exact count, the marker is removed from the board and the opponent must give up one of their treasures to the player. The round is over once one player gets all six of their markers off the board this way.

As soon as a player has won all of their opponent's treasures, the game is over and that player is the winner. If no player has won the game by the end of a round of play, the players must play another round.

In addition, if a player's toss results in all the beans standing on their sides, the game is over and the player automatically wins all the goods bet by both parties.[2]

Macuilxochitl's role in the game

According to the Magliabechiano codex, the god of games, Macuilxochitl, was considered to be participating in the game.[2] To represent this, there is a special area near the game board reserved for offerings to Macuilxochitl. A player must place one of their treasures into this space each time their toss results in a score of zero (no holes showing). After each round of play, the winner of the round receives all the treasure from this space as a gift from Macuilxochitl.

See also

References
  1. Rees, R. (2006). Understanding people in the past: The Aztecs. Reed Elsevier Inc.: Chicago ISBN 1-403-48749-9 pp. 35
  2. Berdan, F.F. & Anawalt, P.R. (1997).The essential Codex Mendoza. University of California Press: California. ISBN 0-520-20454-9
  3. 9 game of patolli. (2001). McGraw Hill. Retrieved August 29, 2012, from link
  4. Tylor, E. B. (1896). On American Lot-Games as Evidence of Asiatic Intercourse Before the Time of Columbus. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
  5. Hoebel, E.A. (1966). Anthropology (3rd ed.). University of Minnesota: USA. P.76. "... the diffusion of the ancient East Indian game of pachisi into prehistoric America, where it appeared among the Aztecs as patolli and in various other forms among other Indians."
  6. Lewis, R. B. (1988). Old World dice in protohistoric United States. In Current Anthropology. 29(5) pg.766
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